


Situation Normal

by keelywolfe



Series: by any other name [89]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Angst, Brotherly Bonding, Chickens, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of resets, Spicyhoney - Freeform, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Undertale Monsters on the Surface, mentions of depression, papcest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 17:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21359947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelywolfe/pseuds/keelywolfe
Summary: This wasn’t at all what Stretch expected from a simple knock at the door.
Relationships: Papyrus/Papyrus (Undertale)
Series: by any other name [89]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1039829
Comments: 34
Kudos: 101





	Situation Normal

**Author's Note:**

> Why let the Fell brothers have all the fun? The Swap bros deserve a chance.

* * *

The knock on the door wasn’t exactly ominous or anything. People did stop over to the house from time to time during the day, actual adults, even, not just the neighborhood kiddos. Undyne, Toriel, even Alphys sometimes although that was usually for her to run a test and boy, howdy, was Stretch loving a chance to play test subject in his own living room. 

He suspected Edge and Alphys thought they were being kind by keeping him out of the lab, so he was gritting his teeth and bearing it, but damn, guys, no. 

Anyway.

Stretch was perfectly capable of playing host to anyone who stopped by, thanks. Especially if there were some of Edge’s cookies to plate up for the latest gossip sesh; he might not have Red’s little network of spies, but Tori hopped up on coffee and sugar always had some tasty dirty laundry to share.

But having a brisk knock interrupt his nap wasn’t exactly putting him in the mood to pull out the cookie tray.

Stretch dragged himself upright with a yawn, kicking the blanket back towards the sofa. It clung stubbornly to one foot, resisting his attempts to get free until he shook his foot hard, almost falling as it finally let him loose.

The knock came again, harder, and Stretch groaned, scratching at his pelvis as he wandered to the door. It took him two tries to unlock it, because of course it was locked, Edge would sooner leave the house without his skull attached before he’d leave Stretch in an unlocked house. It clicked on the second attempt, the door swinging open to reveal his brother, beaming up at him with starry eye lights.

“bro?” Stretch said, sleepily confused. He scrubbed at his face with the back of his hand, trying to wake up enough to go through his mental calendar. It wasn’t their normal day to have lunch, they hadn’t made any plans, so what was…? 

“Good morning!” Blue chirped crisply. He pushed past Stretch into the house, wiping his feet in the door rug. 

“well, hey, come on in,” Stretch said dryly, biting back another yawn and closing the door after him. 

“Thank you, I will. Glad to see you’re enjoying the lovely fall morning!” It was just this side of snarky and that made Stretch grin. Far too many people saw his brother as endlessly sweet, maybe even a little naïve. Stretch knew better, thanks, his bro could be a shit when he wanted and today looked like one of those days.

Blue stood with his hands perched on his hips, surveying the room. Probably taking in the crumpled blanket on the sofa, the half-full coffee cup thankfully set on a coaster. That first moment Blue came in always felt like one of Judgement, his brother looking at their home and deciding its worthiness. 

It prickled a little, every time, but Stretch wasn’t sure how to quantify it. If he said something, Blue would probably say he was imagining things. He might not even be wrong, who the hell knew, but it was how Stretch _felt_, damn it.

Whatever he saw, Blue seemed to deem it worthy. He turned back to Stretch, his starry eyes lights sparkling and said with mock sternness, “I’m hurt, here I am, an uncle, and I haven’t met my chicken nieces.”

“haven’t you?” Stretch said, surprised. He wracked his memories, but yeah, that seemed possible. Any time he’d been sick or otherwise indisposed, Stretch asked Papyrus to take care of the ladies for him, a task he managed with great enthusiasm and probably volume. Not that he didn’t trust his bro, but when Stretch was in the hospital, Blue tended to be there. Any other time it was a habit to call Papyrus as a chicken-sitter was all. “guess you haven’t. sorry, bro, must be agony for you.”

“Terribly hurt,” Blue said solemnly. “Deep inside, except we don’t have any insides because we’re skeletons.”

Stretch snorted. “yeah, bro, and you can’t play an instrument in church cause you’ve got no organs. come on, i fed them earlier, they should be ready for some attention.”

His sweatshirt was a heavy one, but it was pretty chilly out despite the sunshine, so Stretch pulled a jacket out from the closet and slid it on.

“Papy, a hat!” Blue scolded.

“it’s not that cold, i’m fine, bro.” Except for a sudden itch for a cigarette. Stretch ignored it, stepping into his untied sneakers and leading his grumbling brother out the back door. He had a pack upstairs but smoking in front of Blue wasn’t going to be worth the lecture.

The chickens were out in the little fenced yard of their coop and they perked up eagerly at the sight of skeletons and possibility of scritches. They barely waited for him to open the gate, already gabbling. Stretch sat down right on the ground in the fallen leaves, ignoring the dampness creeping through his jeans and laughing as all three of them made a beeline to him.

“So you’re the ones who’ve been making the eggs Papy brings me.” Blue didn’t sit on the ground, crouching instead. His first hesitant stroke over Dumpling’s vibrant feathers firmed as she immediately saw potential for extra affection and turned his way. Blue laughed softly as Nugget jealously pushed in close, trying to impose herself between her flock mate and Blue’s hand. “They’re very friendly, aren’t they. When you first told me about them, I wondered what Edge was thinking, giving you chickens, but they seem like nice pets.”

“guess it is a little odd,” Stretch shrugged a little. Noodle was happy to have his complete attention and he patted her fondly. “but they work for us. not like i was getting a kitten anytime soon.”

Blue didn’t usually care for reminders of Stretch’s little issues, but to his surprise, his brother smiled, a touch sadly, “No, those go to Red, don’t they. I would have thought him more unlikely than you to take on a cat.”

“heh, i think cats suit him just fine.” Matching teeth, Stretch thought with a private shudder. “edge says he’s taking good care of the fuzzball.”

“I’m sure he does—“ before Stretch could parse his brother’s tone, Noodle decided she’d had enough of being ignored by the newcomer and hopped onto Blue’s knee. Her weight was enough to knock him off-balance and he yelped as he fell back into the leaves with Stretch, laughing as Noodle immediately clambered onto his chest to inspect him more thoroughly. Two more chickens joined her and Blue giggled as the three of them walked over him with their scaly little chicken feet.

“heh, looks like they like you.” Stretch reached over to take Nugget before she could settle on Blue’s skull as if it were a giant egg. She settled into his lap amicably enough, crooning blissfully as he smoothed her feathers. ”they like edge, too. try to hop all over him whenever he’s out here.”

Blue shooed the other two brats down enough for him to sit up. “And he allows that?”

Yeah, there was that tone again and this time Stretch frowned. “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Not a thing.” As if his sudden breeziness was going to fool his own brother? “I’m only surprised, is all.”

Stretch sighed, rubbing a thumb beneath Nugget’s little chin. If he could thank his therapy for anything, it was he’d learned that trying to dance around a subject only worked if your partner was willing to boogie. And he definitely wasn’t, not about Edge. “you know, you and edge used to be good friends.”

He could see the surprise in his brother’s face, quickly masked as he said, “We’re still friends.”

“no offense, bro, but you sound as friendly as the bubonic plague. i mean it, you two used to hang out, cook together, do your stitch and bitch,” and when Blue opened his mouth to object, Stretch didn’t stop. “don’t try to tell me you both are busy or some shit. you used to be tight, so what happened?”

A kaleidoscope of emotion crossed his face and what it settled on was not one he easily recognized, not on his brother. “Our friendship was a little disrupted when he crushed my brother’s heart and yet somehow still managed to convince you to go back to him, anyway.”

Stretch could feel his own mouth dropping open because what the fuck? “okay, leaving aside that it was none of your business even then, that was years ago. we had a rocky start, yeah, but we’ve been together for a while and we’re married. why the fuck are you bringing that up for now, sans?” And it felt odd, calling his brother by his real name. Stretch couldn’t remember the last time he’d done it and he wondered how it felt for him to hear it. From the way his shoulders hunched, maybe nothing good. “mind telling me what’s going on, little brother?”

That was a deliberate goad. Blue seemed to forget sometimes that Stretch was the damn older brother and he’d managed pretty well when they were younger, back before…well. Before everything. Going through a bad patch didn’t mean he lost older bro privileges forever. 

“Nothing is going on,” Blue said hurriedly. He swallowed, too hard, like the taste of it was bitter. “I’m sorry I brought it up, brother, you know very well I’m happy for you. I wouldn’t have stood up at your wedding if I wasn’t.”

Stretch was starting to wonder about that, but anything he might have said went winging out of his head at the first tear that fell from Blue’s socket, trailing down his cheekbone. He watched dumbly as it ran down his jaw, hanging from his chin in a translucent jewel of magic before falling to splash on Noodle, disappearing into her feathers.

Okay, fuck this. Stretch pushed Nugget off his lap, ignoring her outraged squawk, and grabbed his brother, hauling him into his lap despite the protests of the other two chickens. That turned the waterworks on full-force and Blue clung to him, sweatshirt fisted in both hands as he buried his face into Stretch’s chest and wailed like he hadn’t since he was a child.

His brother’s weight wasn’t exactly insubstantial, he was short but he was damn solid. Stretch didn’t give a shit, ignoring his protesting femurs and joints as he held his brother close, rocking him gently. He didn’t know what was wrong, but he knew how to handle this, even if it’d been years since he’d done it.

He hummed softly, as automatic as breathing, a wordless song of comfort that hadn’t changed since Blue, Sans, had been so much smaller, his starry eye lights eager, ready to join the guard and capture a Human.

Yeah, maybe that was a memory best forgotten.

Slowly Blue’s sobs eased into hiccoughs and all too soon he drew away, his face drenched in teary magic. Stretch wiped it away with his sleeve like he had when Blue was only a baby bones, drying his cheek bones. It sent a fresh wash of them down, Blue’s eye lights shrunken to dots as he looked up at Stretch.

“I miss you,” Blue blurted suddenly. He choked out another sob, trying to stifle the tears that kept falling. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t, but I do! I miss waking up and seeing you, I miss coming home and having you there! It’s so selfish of me, I should be used to it by now, but I miss you, Papy!”

“sans…” Stretch whispered, shocked to his marrow. He didn’t even know what to say. Blue was cringing miserably, like he expected him to be mad, but how could he be? Blue wasn’t wrong, not at all; when he’d started dating Edge, they’d gone from mornings and nights together to not so much, and when he’d moved out, it was even less. They had lunch together once a week and Stretch stopped in more often now that Jeff was living there, but. He grabbed hold of his brother’s shoulders, hauling him in for a tight hug.“i’m so sorry, kiddo. i didn’t mean to abandon you like that.”

“You didn’t,” Blue said with some asperity and wasn’t that his bro all the way, trying to protect him, even from himself. He drew back and scrubbed at his face with a hanky he’d pulled from his inventory. “You didn’t, Papy. You were sad for so long and I suppose I got used to taking care of you. I told you I was being selfish and I am. You were finding yourself and I wanted to hold you back.”

“you didn’t, though.” Stretch scrubbed his knuckles lightly over Blue’s skull. His brother’s grin was watery, but he leaned into the touch.

“I hope I didn’t. I didn’t mean to spring this on you either, only—“ his sigh was deeply conflicted. “Jeff won’t be staying with me long, I think. He and Antwan seem to have gotten over whatever was troubling them and he’s so very happy. Like you were right before you moved in with Edge. I am happy for him, truly. I suppose I was only enjoying having someone living with me again.”

Well, that was a concoction of happy and shitty, wasn’t it, and not a problem Stretch really knew how to fix. Wasn’t like he could put out an ad for ‘Roommate wanted. Must allow mama bear-ing and be willing to eat pasta. No smokers.’

Blue stood up, dusting leaves away briskly. “It’s all right, brother, it’s my problem to deal with.” He grimaced, a trace of shame crossing his face. “Please don’t tell Edge what I said? It was unkind and he doesn’t deserve that.”

“tell you what, i’ll keep mum if you come over for dinner tonight.” Edge wouldn’t mind and if he did, well, Stretch would remind him of Red’s invite earlier that week. If he could do chili dogs with the gremlin, Edge could manage playing nice with Blue. Probably wouldn’t need to manage if they got to talking about recipes.

But Blue only looked unhappy at the offer. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, Papy. I really shouldn’t have said anything.”

Yeah, that wasn’t gonna fly. “come over,” Stretch insisted, “bring andy and antwan. c’mon, mettaton has a new special tonight, right?” mettaton was no napstatton but he could see Blue wavering and he added the kicker, coaxingly, “i heard it’s a musical.”

That stitched it. Blue glanced down at Noodle, who was inspecting his shoelaces in hopes of finding a wormy snack, then said uncertainly, “If you think Edge won’t mind…?”

“he won’t,” Stretch said firmly. Or if he did, he wouldn’t say. Stretch wasn’t a bad host but Edge would put Martha Stewart to shame when he wanted.

His smile wasn’t quite the starry happiness that Stretch lived to see in him, but it was hella better than crying. “Okay, then, I will. Let me go home and clean up, and I’ll come back over tonight.”

“sounds good, bro.” Before Blue walked off, Stretch caught his arm, hauling him in for another tight hug. Blue returned it with equal ferocity, clinging for a long, long moment. Then he let go, offering a happier smile, and went out the gate to the front.

The second he was gone, Stretch took a shortcut upstairs, then right back down, cigarettes in hand. The tip wavered as he tried to light it and Stretch had to chase it with the lighter flame til it caught, breathing in a cloud of nicotine-laced smoke. He smoked the whole thing, then lit another before he texted Edge.

_okay if my bro comes for dinner tonight?_

The reply was almost immediate. _Of course. I’ll text him and see if he’d like to bring an appetizer._

His soul constricted in his chest, so filled with love that it ached. Because Blue would be happier if he could contribute and Edge knew it, and wasn’t that Edge all the way? Even if his friendship with Blue got sort of derailed by their relationship, Edge never hesitated to be kind. 

Fuck, but Stretch loved him so much.

But he only sent a thumbs up emoticon back along with a string of hearts before dropping his phone back into his pocket and focusing on the task at hand. Namely smoking half this pack before going in to scrub down so no one would be able to smell it. 

He’d fucked up, fucked up bad, Stretch thought grimly. Made his brother feel abandoned level of fucked up, yeah, that was par for his course. Didn’t mean he couldn’t do better, damn it, and if he felt like shit about it, well, time for damage control. 

He wasn’t stuck in a revolving door of resets anymore and his brother deserved to be happy, too. They’d figure it out, he was sure of it.

But after his third cigarette, he went ahead and sent a text to his therapist’s office to set up an extra appointment this week. 

Somehow, he got the feeling he was gonna need a chance to talk.

-finis-


End file.
